Tokyo Ghoul: Anti-clockwise
by Neil Idoyitshi
Summary: A parallel universe set in a different world line deviating at Anteiku. Come on the biggest brain-destroying trip to a chaotic world where Kaneki does not become a ghoul and subsequently his lucky escape makes thousands of others suffer. Note: Fanfiction will be nine chapters long.
1. Chapter 1

The autumn leaves had lined the concrete sidewalk on the morning of a bright morning. A lithe figure appeared to be walking towards a coffee shop in a calm and restful saunter. Over the tinkling of coffee glasses and linen sheets being used to clean the cutlery,"Early this morning, several unidentified male bodies were discovered in Aqua Buliding, a commercial facility in Tokyo's 20th Ward", droned a female newsreader's voice from a television screen.

An old man dressed prim an proper was slowly pouring hot water on what appeared to be ground coffee over a filter. "What appears to be saliva belonging to ghouls was retrieved from the bodies..", continued the newsreader only being spared a few nonchalant glances from the employees busy with their customers.".. and the incident is being investigated as a ghoul crime".

In the background of the sombre atmosphere of the cafe, on the right of the entrance where the blinds were open and sunlight streamed through the window, a brilliant orange haired boy started laughing uproariously permeating through the din of the coffee shop. A slightly bored yet apologetical voice retorted, "It's not that funny, is it?", while precariously lifting up his half finished coffee cup to his lips. "I'm just saying, you can't have a first day at a bookstore, right?", continued the orange haired boy as his laughter dinned down.

On his opposite a very unfashionably dressed black haired boy, who looked close to the age of his compatriot startled suddenly with a sense of disapproval on his voice as his brought his cofee cup down, "Why not? She might be thrilled, you know!". The orange haired boy put his forefinger to the table and smugly replied, "I'll state for the record, that won't happen. Case dismissed" and closed his eyes as if mimicing the mannerism of a detective finishes with a case.

Coffee cup still in hand, the black haired boy startled, "Huh?Then first, I'll take her out to Big Girl, just the two of us, and we'll get a burger." The orange haired boy started tapping on the coffee table and sniggered again as his laughter gradually rose to a crescendo. "I'm giving you a serious answer", grumbled the simple looking black haired boy with a hint of condesending undertones in his voice. "No, it's great! It's great, just like you!", replied the laughing figure as his second set of laughter died down.

The clatter of cutlery was ignored as he went on, "But as a date, it'll be a flop.". The black haired boy was slightly embarrased as he went on the defensive, "What, is everything I do wrong? Hide, what would you do?", and looked out of the window. The gust of wind across the street had subsided as the lithe figure had come closer into focus with her shoulder length straight purple hair and her pink hand bag the she carried infront of her. She was still walking over to the cafe entrance where a sign proclaimed,"Anteiku".

"Listen up. You have to choose a place where the girl will be pleased while you're actually at the date.", quipped Hide. Intrigued by his sudden rational answers, the black haired boy exclaimed, "Such as?". Hide stammered, "Huh? S-Such as…".

"Hide, you don't even have the slightest hint about the same", rebuked the soft spoken boy, finally putting his coffee cup down on his saucer. "If I knew, I wouldn't be spending my afternoon off like this having a date with YOU", declared Hide matter-of-factly. "…last few days have seen a string of predatory ghoul attacks in the 20th Ward,..", the newscaster continued to drone on in the silence that followed. "I guess that's true," replied the black haired boy with a tone of defeat in his voice.

"… and according to the CCG's 20th Ward Branch, they are investigating the possibility that the incidents are the result of the same culprit. In other news.." continued the newslady. This drew the attention of Hide as he remarked, "That's pretty close, huh?", with a hint of concern in his voice. The black haired boy picked his coffee cup and craned it to his lips and took a sip. "So? So, so, so?", Hide stood up and leaned towards the boy and cupped his left hand to his face and continued in a high pitched low whisper , "Who is she? The cute girl you mentioned?".

The boy was visibly embarrassed as his put his cup down and was about to deny the allegations when Hide looked beyond him and gasped, "It's her right?". A few tables behind them stood a blue haired girl in an employees uniform talking to the employees with a smile on her face. "No it isn't", stammered the boy, "Sure, she's cute too…".

The lither figure was climbing the stairs of Anteiku in her pretty sundress. "Excuse me!", Hide cajoled wanting to get her attention, "One cappuccino, please! And you Kaneki?", and looked expectantly at him as the blue haired girl walked towards them and noted down his order with a cheerful expression and mouthed to herself, "-One cappuccino". "I'm not done with this yet.", faltered Kaneki and was cut off by Hide airily asking the blue haired girl, "And also, what's your name?". Kaneki suddenly tried to stop Hide by gushing his name in an attempt to avert his query.

"It's Kirishima Touka", replied the girl in a small voice, visibly a bit taken aback at a direct question such as that. "Miss Touka! Are you seeing anyone?!", added Hide standing up almost at no distance to her face as Touka started blushing further. "Stop that, you idiot!", shouted Kaneki and stood up too. Touka blushed and ran off a safe distance clutching her notepad. Hide seemed proud with himseld let out a grin,"Hmm, How lovely." "If I get kicked out of here, then what do I do?", continued Kaneki fuming all over, "This shop is the one place where she and I both-".

The door chimed announcing the entrance of the lithe purple figure in a sundress who just had walked up the flight of stairs to the cafe. Kaneki's anger instantly dissolved as his eyes automatically fixed on the new entrant, "She's… the one" he mouthed to Hide as her graceful blue heels gracefully walked over to an empty table.

Her perfectly glowing face and pink lips complimented by her purple hair tied into a braid that ran down her right shoulder and her lithe form and her poise raidiated in her walk as she was given an acknowledging state from the employees greeting a regular customer. Hide was speechless for a moment and tore off his own gaze and then he sighed, "Give it up.", and dejectedly sat down. Kaneki shifted his gaze to him and questioningly looked at him.

"You and her would be Beauty and whatever.", Hide shook his head. "The Beast!", whispered Kaneki in a clearly annoyed voice. Hide threw his hands in the air and yawned, "Well then… Now that I've seen you lovelorn, I think I'll be off", and put his change upon an eeriely named book, 'Egg of the Black Goat' as Kaneki too followed suit and sat down.

As Hide stood up Kaneki stared at him and muttered, " Wait, Hide…", only to be greeted by Hide's fading voice bidding a farewell to Touka, their server for the day, "See you later, Miss Touka". Sighing hard he was about to steal another gaze at the purple haired stunning beauty when Hide's sarcastic goodbye floated into his ear from a distance and startled him," Good luck, delusional Kaneki!" , as Hide waved his hand at him from the door to the cafe before slammig it shut and the doorbell chimed again.

Kaneki was about to open the book on his table but something clicked in his mind and he stuffed all his things into his bag and paid for his coffee on the table and rushed towards the door, "Thanks for the meal!", he nodded towards Touka and closed the door behind him and shouted for Hide to wait up for him and ran on the kerb to catch up to Hide who had his orange headphones on and was unable to hear Kaneki calling out to him to stop. Kaneki leaned against a garage and panted, "Yeah, I think you are kinda right. So, Hide my place or yours?". Hide smiled a huge smile and grabbed him with his left hand across his shoulders and ruffled his greasy black hair and dragged a smiling Kaneki while crossing the street as they vanished from the sight of the Anteiku windows.

A purple haired girl sighed heavily and sipped on her coffee which she had just ordered moments ago. She proceeded to take out an eerie looking book and placed it on the table and averted her gaze from the duo horsing around on the street adjacent to the cafe. The bold red ink lettering of the book proclaimed in bland lettering.

'Egg of the Black Goat'.

-Neil Idoyitshi 30/01/2018

 **Le Reader: Wait. That's it?**

 **The story's over? Huh. What the flying fuck? Wait. Wait. Wait.**

 **Let me get my head on straight. So, Kaneki isn't a ghoul in this fanfiction? It's that the entire fucking point of Tokyo Ghoul that Kaneki turns into an emo ghoul because of a construction site accident. Without that Tokyo Ghoul has no fucking goddamn plot to stand on! You idiot of an author! How are you going to procced with this plot you just made? Seriously? A Tokyo Ghoul story starring Kaneki as a human in the main role? You've done a lottsa crap and horsing around lately but have you gone completely insane with this one?**

 **Le author: Calm down. Calm down.**

 **It's all right people. It's not a disaster. It's not blasphemy. It's just plain fanfiction that people lose their heads over. Pretty much my signature style of doing everything.**

 **Okay. So listen up. Here's an ambitious project. A nine chapter fanfiction series of Tokyo Ghoul where Kaneki DOES NOT become a ghoul. Well, I promise that this won't dissapoint. And it's gonna put Lucifer's Endgame on stasis for awhile till this one gets completed. Unlike Lucifers endgame or my mega-series which is (and will not be) showing any signs of stopping (or will show any signs of stopping anytime soon), this one's nine chapters. Hear me loud and clear NINE CHAPTERS ONLY.**

 **And trust me it only gets more fucked up. (Tee-hee).**

 **Also, since this is a serious piece, I'll NOT be going over the top with the A/N. And this one's merely for the story and not for my psychological anxiety issues and mild sociopathy coupled with sadism. Also I'm staving off the QnA, and putting that on hold for this mini-series.**

 **So, this one's to you and you only my readers. Keep reading, reviewing, asking and messaging!**

 **Also, from now on I take this opportunity to thank my latest subscribers and reviewers, y'all are the best!**

 **1)wilbuforce666-Review-Crysis: Fake Prophet**

 **2)Don Orbit-Follower- "as above"**

 **3)Ajintaker-Follower- "as above"**

 **4)IncensedBus87-Review- "as above"**

 **5)TheloneWanderer1-Favourite- TG: Lucifer's Endgame**.


	2. Chapter 2

"Kaneki! Congratulations on passing the university honor student exam!", read the note affixed to his door handle. Kaneki smiled and picked up the affixed plastic bag while he fumbled for his keys. "Presenting some left over high quality ingredients from my place, along with your favourite steak.", Kaneki's eyes scanned the note as he tripped slightly onto his front porch and retained his balance while putting the packet down on the first step. Kaneki chuckled to himself and took off his shoes before dropping off the packet on his kitchen counter.

"I hope you appreciate it! Wa-ha-ha. P.S. When you're upto it we should really hit that coffee shop to celebrate.", next to the note, Hide had scribbled his own name and face in that god-awful handwriting of his, which Kaneki made a mental note to remind him off. Kaneki sat on his bed and let out a sigh," Hide.. Thanks. But I'm sorry". He breathed heavily, " I'm sorry for that god awful handwriting of yours you gradeschooler", and plonked on his bed almost imagining Hide's gloating face If he would confront him about the same. It was almost evening so Kaneki did not feel like opening the blinds adding to the cool, silence of his rented apartment.

From his T.V came forth a solemn voice that continued,"A Ghoul does not have the need to eat this much in this short amount of time in the first place". Pausing for effect the professional looking gentleman in the programme continued, "One dead body will allow them to survive for a month or two". Kaneki looked up from Hide's note to the television screen. Another newscaster promptly asked," , can't ghouls be satisfied with eating the same food as humans?'. Mr Ogura nodded a look of disapproval," No, Ghouls are only able to derive their nutrition from people. Not onlt to mention that their tongues work differently than ours."

Kaneki looked faintly interested and was about to mentally relate to who Mr. Ogura was when the program itself displayed his credentials as Mr. Ogura Hisashi- Ghoul expert. "Ah", mused Kaneki to himself, "Didn't he come over to the campus for a lecture a few weeks ago?'. He propped himself onto the bed with some cushions and looked intently as continued, "When they eat human food, it tastes incredibly awful to them", and stuck out his tongue and pointed to it to make his point. "Yuck", squeamishly mouthed Kaneki and grimaced. He threw around for the television remote and switched off the television and rolled off his bed and opened up the package Hide sent him.

A burger, milk, medley of sauces and a steak, none of which seemed to be leftovers came into sight as he opened the packet. "Hide.. Did you go out and buy this for me?', grumbled Kaneki and smiled slightly. Preheating the steak and leaving the milk to chill in his fridge, he chomped merrily on the burger and savoured its juicy meat and crunchy cabbage and cheese that seemed to melt in his mouth. Plating the steak and topping it off with the sauce he sat down on his bed and leisurely had the tender meat all the while musing about how he could thank Hide for doing all this for him. He suddenly remembered there was some milk he had kept to store before hand and filled himself a glass and opened up the book he had been reading "Egg of the Black Goat", and savoured it's creamy texture as his continued reading as he fell asleep doing the same.

Hide had been trying to reach Kaneki's cellphone for a long time when he finally hanged up and continued on his work. Behind him an almost anorexic figure adjusted his glasses higher up the arch of his nose, "Friend of yours?" .Hide looked back while simultaneously stuffing his cellphone into the pocket of his pants and unceremoniously replied in the affirmative, "Yes". "He was supposed to be notified of the university honor roll today", Hide continued, "But, I can't seem reach him. I went to see him several times too". Hide scratched the mass of orange hair on his head potraying a vibe of confusion. "But, Its always the same and I get turned away". Hide sighed as he was stooping down to lift a carton of stationery.

The flurry of keystrokes on the computer positioned ergonomically on his desks slowed down as if putting forward an apprehensive chatter. "Hmm. If it was me, I'd cut off ties with anyone as rude as that", said the almost anorexic figure as he finally looked away from his work and made quite a show of further pushing up his rectangular frames further up the arch of his nose. Hide stopped in his track as he was tidying up the box of chart paper and stationary and continued, "Kaneki and I have been best friends since we were kids", putting down the box for added emphasis. The brown haired man engrossed in his work unstaringly exclaimed. "Best friends, huh?", with a hint of sarcasm in his deep voice.

"Hello? Kaneki? Are you awake you nerd? Listen Honor student, I was just at the bookstore in front of the station and Akatsuki whats-his-name is doing a book signing, so I thought I'd tell you". The dead dialtone followed by the termination of the voicemail seemed to stretch out for eternities as Kaneki stretched on his bed as slightly annoyed at discovering that the dregs of milk from his post-sleep snack had stained the cuff of his shirt. His fingers swiped down the unread voice mails and hit play on yet another one by Hide which continued in his airheaded demeanor, "Anyway, nerd, call me when you've finished hibernating, I need to hit that coffee shop with that cute employee ASAP. Ahem, anyway Bye".

Kaneki plonked down his smartphone on his headboard adjacent to his bed and rose from the bed. In a trance of sleep, he walked toward the lump of clothes he had kept for the laundry, but had forgotten completely about because of the honor roll tests. "Oh great, and now even I'm becoming Hide", groaned Kaneki as he tugged a blue hoodie with two parallel black bands on its right arm from the pile which still smelled socially acceptable in midst of other humans and threw in on his current attire. He grimaced and picked up his phone and somehow gingerly adjusted into his sneakers and shut the door with a clang behind him as he paced towards the station in high expectations as he noticed the darkening of the skies and prayed to the deities so that it didn't rain. On the very tip of the sidewalk where the four roads connected he skipped on the zebra crossings evidently very happy and excited.

The light drizzle had started abruptly as Kaneki approached the bookstore in front of the station. The drenched cotton fabric struck tightly onto his skin as he noticed a sign that proclaimed, "The Akatsuki Sen Book signing is now over". Kaneki sighed deeply and was about to walk back on the same crossing when the rains started heavily and he took a one eighty turn on his toes and rushed into the partially opened automatic doors of the bookstore and slid off his hood," Fine, I might just pick up a second hand bound edition of 'Salt and Opium', if that's here".

Kaneki went over to the aspiring authors aisle and found what he was looking for aside a smiling mugshot of Takatsuki Sen which was signed very recently, and sat down into the reclining chairs kept in the networking room of the bookstore. The owner looked otside at the heavy rains and nodded discernibly to Kaneki who looked up from his book and smiled at him. Kaneki looked back into his book and turned its worn yellowed pages slowly as if soaking in the smell of the book and lost in the fantastic worlds inside.

A purple haired figure in a butler uniform of the Anteiku coffee shop was finishing up closing the shop and rose up with one final push putting the lock gryves into motion as the shutter of the shop snapped shut. She gathered up her bags and started on her way on the dimly lit route the lay adjacent to the shop. A loud clang in an alleyway alerted her, as he readied herself and stealthed herself with feats to acrobatic maneuver as she saw an anorexic brown haired man with rectangular glasses standing on top of two corpses which she understood to be a ghoul and a human respectively. He was in his own monologue, " Kazuo? It's a shame that you could'nt have chosen another hunting ground to hunt in". He smirked and pointedly looked up at Touka perched precariously on the rooftop.

"Touka. There's enough meat for both of us down here", he jeered,"Only if you'd stop being that goody-two-shoes and just take this as a peace offering". Touka looked pointedly at the bloodied figure beneath her who had just noticed him.

"Fuck off Nishio".

 ** _Okay. So I kinda understand why it's so damn hard writing with a plot in mind. I'm not gonna blabber much and basically present to you, chapter two of the serious piece I'm doing. So, without much ado, this one's to you and you only my readers. Keep reading, reviewing, asking and messaging!Enjoy_**

 ** _Also, from now on I take this opportunity to thank my latest subscribers and reviewers, y'all are the best!_**

 ** _1)TAINTLORD- Crysis:False Prophet-Follower_**

 ** _2)olakeace3225022- TG:AC-Follower_**

 ** _3)Para-DX- TG:AC-Follower+Favourite_**

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